Web of Lies Read online

  My doorbell rang. Other than Marie, no one ever visits. Getting up, I look through the peephole in the door. It’s a delivery guy with flowers. What the hell? Who would be sending me flowers?

  Opening the door, the delivery guy says, “Good Morning. Are you Lisa Bryant?”

  “Good morning, yes, I am. How can I help you?”

  “These flowers are for you. I just need you to sign for them. There is also an envelope with a note in it.”

  “May I ask who they are from before I sign for them?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Will you please hold them while I check the invoice?”

  Taking the flowers from the young man, I can’t help but notice how gorgeous they are. The bouquet is filled with daffodils, daisies, and Gerber mums, with baby’s breath and some greenery to fill it out.

  “Ma’am, it says that they are from someone named Zack. There is no other name.”

  Handing the flowers back to the young man, I said, “Please take them back and let the gentleman know that they are not wanted and to please not send more. Stay there for just a moment, please.”

  I went into the living room and grabbed some cash out of my wallet. Going back to the door, I said, “Thank you for trying. It’s not your fault the guy who sent them is a schmuck. Here is a tip for your time and effort. Have a good day.” Once he took the cash, I shut the door before he could say anything. The look on his face said enough. I hate those looks of pity.

  Back at my desk, I send Marie a quick text.

  Can you believe the nerve of the schmuck? I just had a delivery guy here with flowers. I sent them back. Maybe he will get the hint to leave me alone.

  Her reply was quick, she must have been holding her phone at the time.

  Some guys just don’t get it unless you hit them over the head with a hammer . . . lol.

  Don’t tempt me. I just might do it . . . lol.

  That was the end of our texting for the time being. I went back to researching facts about cold cases in the United States. The numbers are staggering, to say the least. More than 250,000 cold cases have accumulated since 1980. In 1965, US detectives routinely cleared nearly ninety percent of murder cases. Today, forty percent of homicides go unsolved, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report. The rising cold case rate carries significant implications. It seems like there just aren’t enough officers to clear the cases or are the criminals getting smarter?

  A little while later, my phone rings with an unknown number. Thinking it may be one of the police officers I’ve been in touch with, I went ahead and answered it.

  “Good afternoon, this is Lisa Bryant. May I help you?”

  “Lisa, please don’t hang up on me. It’s Zack. We really . . .”

  Click. I so do not want to hear what he has to say. I’ve got work to do and the last thing I need is for him to be bothering me. Before I sat the phone back down, I made sure to block that number too. Why can’t the schmuck get the hint that I want nothing to do with him? What hurts, hell, what angers me the most is that I actually opened up to that asshole. I let him in when I haven’t even been able to let my friends in, at least not like that. I guess what they say about it being more comfortable to talk to strangers is true.

  Checking to see what time it is, I notice that I worked right through lunch again. Maybe I will just skip lunch and treat myself to a big dinner. I like being out with my friends. It had been way too long. I wonder if Marie and Amanda can get away from their other halves long enough to go out to eat tonight. I will even drive if they want. I can pick Marie up on the way to Hoboken. There are so many fabulous places to eat there besides Arthur’s.

  I send a group text to Marie and Amanda.

  Hey, ladies, I want to get out of the house tonight. I feel like having something really bad for me for dinner. Can you two get away from the guys for one night? I would love a ladies night out. We can go to La Casa, the Cuban restaurant in Hoboken. Marie, I will drive so I can pick you up on the way.

  Setting the phone back down, I get up to stretch and get a cold diet Dr. Pepper from the fridge. If I am going to be bad tonight, I can at least stick to my diet soda for now. On my way back to the desk, I hear my phone ping. Before I even get to sit down, it pings again. That means they have both answered me already. Picking up the phone, I read their replies.

  So sorry, Lisa, but Jim and I have plans to go into the city. His mom gave us tickets to see Cirque du Soleil at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden. I would love to have a ladies’ night out, but it will have to be another night.

  If you still want to go count me in, I need a break and you know I love the food at La Casa. You still want to pick me up and what time?

  Amanda, you and Jim have a great time. I wish I were going with you. I love Cirque du Soleil. They have different shows, so no matter how many times you go, it’s always different. We can do a ladies’ night next week if you both want. I need to start getting back out of the house again.

  Marie, hell, yes, I still want to go. I didn’t eat lunch, so thinking about that Cuban food has my belly growling. It’s three now, so how about six for me to pick you up?

  Six sounds perfect, I will see you then.

  Lisa, maybe we can all get tickets to Cirque du Soleil and go again another time.

  Amanda, that sounds like a plan. We will get together to work out the details.

  I love Amanda, but I’m kind of glad she can’t go tonight. This will give Marie and me time to relax and talk. I know she is going to want to talk about what happened with Zack. She is going to get the drive there to talk about him. Once we are there, that conversation ends so we can move on and have some fun. I swear I can taste the roast pork with yellow rice, black beans, and plantains now. Marie and I will get a plate of the Cuban street tacos to share. Who knows what she will get for her main course. Lord, help us, we will probably need a crane to get both of us out of there.

  Let me get back to work for at least another hour, then I will go take a shower so I can get ready to go pick Marie up. I am so excited to be going out, just the two of us. The pages are starting to blur from all the percentages and reports on cold cases. Time for my shower.

  Once I’m finished getting ready, it’s about five-thirty. I may be a few minutes early if traffic isn’t too bad. But it’s rush hour traffic, so it’s always terrible. Throwing my jacket on, I head for the door. Just as I am about to open it, the doorbell rings. Who the hell could that be? Looking through the peephole, who else is standing there but Zack. Shit, how the hell am I going to get out of here now? I wonder if Marie can get Ryan to send him a text. Ryan could always say that we went out for a girls’ night, so he wants to hang out.

  I sent Marie a text real quick explaining what was going on. She sent one back saying that Ryan was sending Zack a message right now. I sent Marie another one back asking if she could meet me at the convenience store down the block from her house. That way, Zack doesn’t see either of us. Looking out again, I see Zack checking his phone. I can hear him cussing, but he types something back to Ryan, then gets in his truck and leaves. Marie sent a text back that she would be waiting for me at the store. She also said that Zack was on his way to the house.

  I waited, giving the jerk a few minutes to be gone. Once I was sure Zack wasn’t anywhere near my house, I ran out, locked my door, and jumped in the car. As I was driving to meet Marie, I turned the radio on. Ed Sheeran’s song Galway Girl was playing. Turning up the volume, I sang as loud as I could along with him. Music always calms me when I am upset. It’s one of the things that I would be lost without. I can’t imagine losing my hearing. It has to be harder for someone who was able to hear then went deaf versus someone who was born that way. If you are born deaf, you don’t know the difference.

  Traffic wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. It only took me ten minutes to get to the store to pick up Marie. She took hiding seriously because I don’t even see her anywhere. I sent her a text asking where she was. As I looked up, she made her way from the
back of the store to the exit. I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Hey, you, thanks so much for meeting me here. Jackass has been bugging me all day. First, he sent the flowers, which I sent back. Second, he called me from an unknown number. I answered because I thought it might have been a work call from one of the detectives that work the cold cases. I hung up on the jerk right in the middle of a word. Third, and the final straw, was him showing up at the house just as I was ready to walk out the door to come get you. Two seconds later and he would have caught me there.”

  “Damn, girl, sounds like he is really wanting to talk to you. I know Ryan said he has been calling him all day, probably after each time he tried reaching you with no luck. Were the flowers at least really pretty?”

  “Marie, they were gorgeous. I bet he spent a lot of money on them, but that’s his problem, not mine. The delivery guy said there was also a letter to go with them. Ugh, I can’t believe my luck with men. Am I that bad that God is punishing me with nothing but schmucks?”

  “Knock it off, Lisa. You’re a beautiful, talented, smart, incredibly strong woman who doesn’t take shit from assholes. I have to admit I was surprised to get your text earlier about going out tonight. You have barely left the house in the last two years. Every single time we invite you out, you make up some lame-ass excuse.”

  “I know and I decided it was time to join the living again. I had decided on it during my second date with Zack. If it turned out, he wasn’t the one, I was still going to start getting out and doing things. I missed lunch today and all I could think that I wanted to eat was Cuban. You know how I hate going out to eat alone, so I sent that text to you and Amanda. I’m so glad you said yes. It’s been way too long since the two of us went out together.”

  “Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad you are getting out again. I know you didn’t want to hear it earlier today because you were still pissed off from last night. Can I tell you what Ryan told me about the text?”

  “I had already decided earlier that I was going to listen to you. You have until we reach the restaurant. Once we are there, this conversation is done because I want to enjoy my evening with you. Who knows maybe I will meet a sexy Cuban fellow while we are there?”

  I wink at her right before we both crack up laughing. It felt good to break the tension that had started to build up.

  “Zack told you about his fiancée cheating on him, right?”

  “Yes, he said it was with one of his friends.”

  “It was worse than that. It was Zack’s best friend, who was also supposed to be his best man at the wedding. They were supposed to be married a little over a week from when he caught them. The poor guy was so devastated that he quit going out or having anything to do with anyone. Ryan is the one who finally started to get him out of his shell by hanging out with him at Zack’s place. It screwed with his head so bad that Zack almost lost his business because he couldn’t focus on work. Luckily, he was able to turn things around and the company is doing better now.”

  “That is worse than if it was just any old friend. That still doesn’t explain why Ryan had to pay him to go out with me.”

  “Give me a chance, I’m trying to get there. Zack hasn’t dated anyone since Rachel broke his heart. I mean not one single date this whole time. Ryan had been telling Zack about you for a while. He really wanted to get the two of you together. Honestly, Ryan and I both thought that you and Zack would be perfect for each other. Of course, Zack kept refusing to go out. He kept telling Ryan, Once burnt, twice shy. I finally showed Zack a picture of you. Once he saw that, he was sort of interested, but still being a pain in the ass.”

  “I can understand him not wanting to get hurt again. Hell, I’ve been in the same boat. With what happened to John, it scares the hell out of me to get close to someone again. What if something happened to the person, I don’t think I could handle going through that a second time.”

  “I get it, believe me. Well, as much as I love Ryan, sometimes he is a total dumb ass. He told Zack he would give him two hundred dollars if he would go out with you. That was to be date money, you know, to pay for dinner, a movie, or whatever. Since we went to Hoboken for dinner and the street fair, I’m sure he spent that and more on the date. You know how expensive Arthur’s can be. Then he asked you out on the second date and you said ‘yes’. After the date, Zack was worried that Ryan might say he paid him to take you out and it coming out wrong. So, he sent that message. Zack had planned on giving Ryan the money back the next time he saw him. Zack really likes you and didn’t want anything to mess it up. Of course, I saw the text without knowing the whole story and blabbed to you and messed it all up.”

  “Oh my God, are you freaking serious? So, I was his first date since the breakup, and Ryan paid for our first date just to get him to finally go out with me like he wanted to, but wouldn’t for fear of being hurt? They are both schmucks. In a way, I guess I am too for not letting him explain first. Ha-ha, I guess you are also for not talking to Ryan before you told me about the text. I can see it now, me calling somewhere to make a reservation. Yes, I need a table reserved for four. When we get there, the waiter calls out the schmuck’s party of four, your table is ready.”

  We looked at each other, both shook our heads, then started hysterically laughing. When we finally calmed down, I got really quiet.

  “What’s going through that mind of yours, Lisa? I know when you get quiet, it’s never a good sign.”

  “I feel awful for not talking to Zack before I flipped out on him, then blocked him. As much as I hate to admit it, I was wrong and I am going to have to get in touch with him to see if we can fix this mess. After the way I acted last night and today, he probably thinks I’m a total nut job that he wants nothing to do with.”

  “Lisa, I wouldn’t be too worried about that. He was so mad at Ryan today that he threatened to come over and throttle him. I had to take the phone and explain to Zack that it was my fault. I learned my lesson. From now on, instead of checking Ryan’s texts, I’m just going to hit the button to shut the damn phone up.”

  We got lucky there was a parking spot just down from the restaurant. Hoboken parking is the worst, even worse than it is in New York City.

  “We are still going to have our girls’ night out. After I get home tonight, I will unblock Zack’s number. I hope he is still going to want to talk to me after all of this drama.”

  Marie was unusually quiet as we got out of the car to go inside.

  Chapter Six

  When we got inside, the waiter started to usher us to a table near the back of the restaurant. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the flowers on the table that had been delivered to me earlier. I started to look around for Ryan and Zack, but I didn’t see them anywhere. Once we were seated and had placed our drink orders, I quickly started questioning Marie.

  “Marie, did you tell the guys where we were going tonight?”

  “You know I always tell Ryan where I am going to be just in case there is an emergency.”

  “Okay, so who told Zack?”

  Looking at me sheepishly, “I did right before I left the house to meet you. Zack drove a lot faster to get to the house than I thought he would. He caught me coming out.”

  “So, where are the guys now? Are they here?”

  “Well, umm, they aren’t here per se. They are nearby. All I have to do is send Ryan a text saying to either come in or go away. It’s all up to you, Lisa.”

  “Damn it, Marie, I am a hot mess. Look at me. Do I really look date and grovel ready?”

  “Woman, you need to get over yourself. You’re gorgeous and you know it. As far as groveling, why should you be the one to do it? Let him crawl for a bit. So, do you want me to send them away or what? It’s all up to you.”

  “As a payback for making me think he betrayed me, I should have you tell them to go away. Just those two words and nothing else. But part of me really wants to see Zack again. I can’t get over these flowers. The arrangement is so big, we
won’t be able to even see the guys once they sit across from us.”

  “They really are beautiful. I’m going to have to give Ryan hell for not sending me flowers as lovely as that. What should I tell the guys? My phone has buzzed in my pocket three times since we sat down.”

  I snicker because I know she wants to smack Ryan right about now.

  “Tell them to come on in. So much for our ladies’ night out, you brat.”

  She laughed as she sent the message. Less than a minute later, the guys came walking into the restaurant. As much as I dreaded this, I was also looking forward to seeing Zack. I hope we can work things out.

  Before I could say a thing, Zack made sure to hand the two hundred dollars back to Ryan in front of me. I knew Marie had said he planned on giving it back, I just didn’t expect him to do it in front of me. As soon as they sat down, the waiter was there to get their drink orders. Once he left, Zack started talking before I could even open my mouth.

  “Lisa, I am so sorry. That whole situation should have been handled differently. First, I should have told you about it when we went on our second date instead of texting knucklehead over there. Second, I hope you will give me a second chance. I know we’ve only known each other for a few days, but I really like you. I’d like the opportunity to see where this may lead us. What do you say? Can we start over again?”

  “Zack, I’m sorry too. I should have given you a chance to explain that text before I flipped out then blocked you. It felt like a betrayal of trust, especially after opening up to you like I did. Can you forgive me for jumping to conclusions? As you know, my track record with guys hasn’t been too good, so I freaked out. I feel horrible about it. I would love to start over. I really like you, plus I would love to see where our path leads us.”

  Ryan and Marie just sat there quiet as church mice while we talked. I could tell Marie was dying to say something. Hate it, but she said enough already. Now is the time for Zack and me to talk and make a decision for ourselves without anyone's interference.